This week, WHRW 90.5 FM salutes vinyl. Since Monday at 1 a.m., and until Sunday, Nov. 9 at 1 a.m., all DJs will play their music exclusively off of vinyl records.
Vinyl Week has become a semesterly tradition for WHRW. While some DJs use vinyl records throughout the year on their shows, most rely on music taken from CDs and MP3s. This week gives DJs the opportunity to introduce their shows to music that they normally wouldn’t play, while exploring the vast WHRW library of vinyl records. The library includes music of every genre, including electronic music records, which some DJs use for mixing on their shows. The records span from the early days of vinyl with original masters to today’s newest releases.
Ray Futia, programming director for WHRW and a senior majoring in biology, plays vinyl records on a show, Vinyl Frontier, throughout the year. He’s a believer in the difference between music off of a record compared to an MP3. He described Vinyl Week as “an opportunity for students to hear what vinyl sounds like with its warmer sound and a nice crackle.”
“Vinyls are the easiest way to get the original masters,” Futia said. “When The Beatles put out an original record, for that sound they were behind the booth during the recording process with producers making it themselves.”
The popularity of records in general has been on the rise for the past couple of years. A new generation has begun listening to and even collecting records, just as their parents had done in their youth. Isabella Castiglioni, a DJ for the show Tulips and Chimneys and a sophomore majoring in environmental studies, said she planned to play “some classic rock, Led Zeppelin, Joan Baez and some instrumental pieces.”
“Honestly, I think part of me thinks it’s a little pretentious to people and they only like the image of vinyl, but I also think it’s cool that people are getting back into vinyl music,” Castiglioni said.
Whether vinyl records are just another trend that could extinguish at any moment is yet to be determined. But with popular artists in the music industry releasing their music on traditional records along with CDs and MP3s, and with chain retailers like Urban Outfitters selling them, it doesn’t seem like the world will see an end to that classic sound any time soon.